Quota cloud over direct entry into top bureaucracy
JT SECY JOBS Govt says hiring specialists will bring talent, dynamism; Oppn parties call it a ploy to undercut reservations
NEWDELHI: The Centre’s decision to induct specialists at the joint secretary level through lateral recruitment has generated criticism from opposition parties and a Dalit member of Parliament from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over the new policy sidestepping caste-based reservations.
The lateral-entry openings, widely advertised in newspapers on Sunday, will bypass the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) examination system, which reserves 15% seats for the Scheduled Caste, 7.5% for the Scheduled Tribe and 27% for the Other Backward Castes in the Indian Administrative Services (IAS). The government says its intention is to hire talent from different spheres including the private sector to augment its own capacity. On Monday, opposition leaders from several parties described the move as a ploy to undermine the process of selection of bureaucrats and undercut the reservation policy.
Though the advertisement was for only 10 jobs, it would set a precedent for any such induction across government departments in the future.
Udit Raj, BJP MP from northwest Delhi, said he was “concerned” about adherence to reservation. He said he would be writing to the Department of Personnel and Training (DOPT), which published the advertisements, to ensure that the policy of reservations was followed.
The BJP has, at the highest levels including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party president Amit Shah, consistently said that the system of reservations will not be diluted.
The Congress attacked the new policy on Monday, alleging that the BJP wanted to induct people who were aligned with its own ideology.
The govt wants to bypass the rigorous process of selection through the UPSC to make way for the absorption of people affiliated to the RSS PL PUNIA, Congress MP and former chairman of Commission for SCS
“The decision has been thought through; the government wants to bypass the rigorous process of selection through the UPSC to make way for the absorption of people affiliated to the RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) and the BJP through the back door,” alleged PL Punia, Congress MP and former chairman of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes.
“...also, there is no mention of whether the reservation policy will be followed,” he added.
But a ministry of personnel, public grievances and pensions official familiar with the matter said the government has been recruiting outside talent on contractual basis for quite some time.
PM Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah consistently said that they will not end reservations or allow anyone else to end reservations.
BIZAY SONKAR SHASTRI, national spokesperson, BJP